Chicago White Sox director of hitting Ryan Fuller spoke in terms many players understand — video games.
“When you play video games, you start at Level 1 and when you beat the Level 1 boss, you go to Level 2 — you don’t jump to Level 30 right away,” Fuller said during a videoconference call Thursday afternoon. “It’s going to have that feel of making sure these guys are building their skill every day.
“As we are building that skill, we are going to look to problem solve. We are going to look to find really messy solutions at times because we know the more learning we can do, the more challenging environments we can provide for these hitters in the context where they are currently with their skill, the more likely they are going to have success when the lights come on at 7 p.m. each night.”
Fuller, 34, is already at work in his new role. The Sox formally announced the hiring Thursday.
Fuller’s duties include overseeing all aspects of hitting throughout the organization. He spent the last three seasons as co-hitting coach with the Baltimore Orioles. His previous experience with that organization includes serving as the full-season hitting coordinator and Double-A hitting coach in 2021.
“As hitting coordinator, you were certainly in charge of the minor leagues, you would work in unison with the major leagues to make sure there was a seamless transition and that things were running very similarly,” Fuller said. “But I see (director of hitting) as more overarching in terms of the entire organization.
“You get to work closely with different departments, work closely with the front office, but also be boots on the ground with your people, the coaches and players, every day. It’s certainly something I’m looking forward to.”
General manager Chris Getz, who disclosed the addition last week, recently compared Fuller’s responsibilities similarly to that of senior adviser to pitching Brian Bannister.
“On the offensive side, that’s certainly an area we wanted to prioritize this offseason, and we’re very happy to hire Ryan in the director role,” Getz said last week. “Very talented. You look at what Baltimore has done through the years, to bring that expertise and skill set to our organization, we felt that was very important, and we’re excited to have Ryan be a part of that.
“He’s going to help on the acquisition front — whether it be this offseason on free-agent acquisitions or trade acquisitions — and going to help (hitting coach) Marcus (Thames) and other coaches throughout the organization put together game plans and development plans for our players. We know it’s a tall task to take on hitting. We certainly know we’re an organization that needs help, and we felt like we found someone that could really supplement and help lead us to a better position for future success on the offensive side.”
Fuller’s former team in Baltimore has been an offensive force, scoring the fourth-most runs in the majors since 2022. The Orioles in 2024 ranked second in home runs (235), third in extra-base hits (530) and slugging percentage (.435), fourth in runs (786) and RBIs (759) and seventh in hits (1,391) and batting average (.250).
He joins a club coming off a woeful season in which the Sox finished last in several offensive categories, including batting average (.221), on-base percentage (.278) and slugging (.340) while suffering a modern MLB record 121 losses.
“We’re going to find those skills and attributes that make them have the superpowers that they have and try and leverage the areas to make them even better,” Fuller said.
Fuller’s overarching philosophy includes “going in with a great game plan so we can control the zone — kind of the line of scrimmage where that battle starts. If we’re swinging at pitches over the heart of the plate, you’re going to make contact. And when you make contact on pitches over the heart, you’re going to have those damage balls that are going to be high-end exit velo on a line in the air.”
Fuller is ready to aid the Sox in a variety of ways.
“I see it as helping the players, obviously, but also empowering the coaches, meeting everyone in all different departments and being that catalyst to connect everyone together,” Fuller said. “Because obviously, where we are today is not where we want to be in the future. And having a clear vision and road map to get there and having everybody on board will be key.”
